Night Terrors
by woodsgotwood
Summary: Some people had problems with wetting the bed, but for Leo it was the complete opposite. Every night, Leo would wake up screaming with his whole bed engulfed in flames. Talk about embarrassing. Leyna one-shot.


Some people had problems with wetting the bed, that was perfectly normal. However, Leo's problem was the exact opposite. He wasn't sure as to why this had started happening, as he had never had problems like this before. The problem was this: almost every night, Leo would have terrible nightmares about giants, Gaea, the doors of death, his mother, anything. He would wake up screaming, then would find that his whole bed - mattress, sheets, even his pillow - were engulfed in flames. It had gotten so bad that he had taken to sleeping under a fire blanket, its primary use was to smother the flames, after all.

This did not prove successful, as the blanket was incredibly thick and hot and he would end up throwing it off of himself in the middle of the night, rendering it useless. So he kept a fire extinguisher in his bed as his own personal teddy bear that patiently waited for him to wake up, screaming and on fire. It did nothing to stop the combustion from happening, but Leo had started to resign himself to live with it. He was becoming used to extinguishing the fire and falling immediately back to sleep. He could only assume that it was his own way of dealing with the outcome of the giant war. It was like when old guys had Vietnam flashbacks, or like when Scott McCall would turn into a werewolf whenever he got angry.

(This comparison was often in his mind, if only for the reason that he really liked Tyler Posey's character on Teen Wolf. He was part Mexican, had crazy powers, and was in a relationship with a slammin' hottie. Needless to say, he looked up to him a lot, and really needed to catch up with the new season.)

So when Reyna, praetor of Camp Jupiter, invited Leo to help the onsite architects to rebuild the camp and add in a better security system, he was a little worried of what the outcome of this obvious overnight stay would be. He was deeply honored to be chosen, especially with him being Greek and all, but he had half a mind to turn her down. He could never do that to her, though. Not only was she incredibly scary, but she was terrifyingly beautiful as well. Two of Leo's weaknesses, if he were to be honest with himself. He didn't have to guts to refuse.

The first day he arrived, Reyna made sure that she was the one to personally show him around the camp and New Rome. He couldn't help but be reminded of the last time he was there - he had single-handedly tried to destroy New Rome. Granted, it wasn't really him doing that at the time, but he still felt incredibly guilty about it. He assumed that that was the reason why Reyna was keeping such a close watch on him.

"And this where you will be sleeping," she said as she brought him to the barracks, "The praetor's quarters are right across from this, so if you need me, I'll be close."

"More like you can keep an eye on me, huh?" he said with a smile. She, however, did not find this amusing, judging by the cold look in her eyes.

"I will take whatever precaution I see fit to ensure the safety of my campers as praetor of Camp Jupiter," she said, "Even though your reputation as a skilled engineer precedes you, I cannot forget your actions the last time you were here."

"To be fair, I was possessed by a psychopathic ghost. So maybe we can start off on a clean slate from now on? I understand that you're basically the all-powerful Queen of the Camp, but that doesn't mean you have to be so serious all the time, right? Maybe you and me can go and get some hot chocolate and get to know each other better?" he said, placing his arm around her shoulders. He was pulling out all the stops for this one, he just hoped it wouldn't backfire on him.

Reyna roughly removed his arm from around her, "You have a lot of work to do. I suggest you put more effort into getting to know the people you will be working with to repair my camp then trying to seduce me like a lovesick preteen. And don't think I won't be watching you, Valdez." she said, giving one final glare as she turned to walk away from him.

Leo gulped. It was worth a shot, but he had horribly failed. He walked away to find the engineers and repairmen he would be working with, the words skilled engineer still ringing in his ears. If he had decided to walk away a second later, he wouldn't have missed the small smile on Reyna's face as she turned to stare back at him.

* * *

The majority of the day with his co-workers was spent on convincing them that he was a good guy and, no, he really didn't mean to fire on their camp. Needless to say, they didn't get much done that day, but he did make a couple new friends in the process. He even learned a little about Roman Architecture, something he never used to be really interested in, and he taught a couple people about mechanics. The Vulcan kids were just like the Hephaestus kids back at Camp Half-Blood, and they got along great. He was able to totally forget about everything he was worried about coming there.

But as the sun set and they all returned to their respective barracks or homes in New Rome, a burning in Leo's chest reminded him how worried he was to be sleeping under the watchful gaze of Reyna. Gods, what if she thought that he was deliberately trying to burn down the camp? His mind flashed back to his father warning him of his powers. He thought about the fire that killed his mother, and the Great Fire of 1666 - the one caused by a child of Hephaestus with the same gifts as him.

He ran his hands through his hair, "You gotta stop psyching yourself up, Leo," he muttered to himself. He knew he was just working himself up, but he couldn't help but think that his fear was justified. He really didn't want Reyna to hate him even more than she already obviously did. In fact, he wanted a lot more than that, he thought as he tucked himself into bed. He wanted them to be friends, or maybe even more than that. He quickly shooed that thought out of his mind, though. It would never happen. She was _way _out of his league, like more than usual. He did have a thing for girls out his league, but this time it was pushing it. She was praetor of New Rome, for Zeus' sake! She would never go for the repair boy that almost destroyed her home.

_She did call you a skilled engineer_, the little voice in the back of his head said. This was true, he had to admit, but he still wasn't convinced. _I_ am _a skilled engineer, though. The very best. Just because her opinion of me was totally correct doesn't mean she thinks that I'm supermegafoxyawesomehot. Even if I am._

Sleepily, Leo idly wondered if Reyna had a fire extinguisher, and if he should ask her for it. Then he wondered if New Rome had cable, and if he could catch up with Teen Wolf while he constructed an awesome security system as well as simultaneously wooing the heart of the cold praetor. The Ice-Queen of Camp Jupiter and the skilled engineer who couldn't sleep without setting himself on fire. Now that was a weird thought.

* * *

That night he had one of the worst dreams of his life. It started off with him and his mother in the workshop. He was the age he was now, and he was so happy to see her alive again. The happiness didn't last, though. As he was repairing the engine to his mother's old car, his hand caught fire. He quickly rushed away from the car and away from any source of flammable fuel. He took a deep breath and tried to extinguish the flames coming from his hand, but it was no use. The fire was spreading, lapping up his arms and all across his chest until his whole body was engulfed in flames.

His mother came to him, distressed, "Leo! _¿Qué pasa?_ What's going on?"

"Ma, go away," he sobbed, but he knew what would happen. The fire spread everywhere, and he heard the terrified screams of his mother. He tried desperately to get out, but the door was locked. The terrified screams turned into screams of pain. _"Leo! Leo!"_ He heard her screaming. He sunk down into a ball against the door and started to cry, as the flames danced all around him and he felt no pain.

That was when he noticed that the screams of pain were his own, and that it wasn't his mother shouting his name - it was someone else. The realization had enough shock to wake him up. He opened his eyes to see Reyna standing beside his bed, screaming for him to wake up. Not even a second later, a shock of cold air hit his body and there was white everywhere. The surprise caused him to gasp, and he inhaled a mouthful of foam. It was a fire extinguisher, the kind that spit out a bunch of foam. It did the job though, as Leo sat up and spit out the white substance, he saw that all the flames were extinguished. The bed was pretty charred, though. It was a miracle that the fire hadn't spread any further.

"What in Jupiter's name was that?" Reyna exclaimed, still clutching the fire extinguisher so hard her knuckles were turning white.

Leo wiped the foam off of his face so he wouldn't have any more of it in his mouth when he tried to talk, "It wasn't on purpose, I swear," he said.

"Leo, I know it wasn't, I could tell you were asleep. But what happened? Is this kind of thing normal with you? Because if it is, you really should have told me before you took the job. You could have burnt down the whole camp!" she gesticulated wildly, fire extinguisher still in hand. She wasn't wearing her praetor's robes, but a faded Camp Jupiter t-shirt and oversize basketball shorts. Her hair was a mess as well, big and wavy and knotted in some places. Leo never would have recognized her during the day, since her attire was so different. But he really liked it - it made her look like an actual teenager.

He tried to shake himself out of his reverie, and looked down, "I... I don't know what I was thinking," he said, for once in his life at a loss for words, "I just thought that, I don't know, the nightmares had to stop eventually."

He could see Reyna physically deflate as an expression of sympathy came over her face. For once, she didn't look cold or like she wanted to beat you up, she looked crazy beautiful to Leo. She gingerly set the fire extinguisher down and sat next to Leo in the white goo.

"So, I take it that the sleeping on fire thing is new?" she asked. Leo nodded, and scooted over to give her more room on the bed. He became suddenly self-conscious as he realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, that his hair was a mess, and that he had the fire extinguisher substance all over him. So much for making a good impression.

"It started happening after the war was over. Like, I would always have nightmares before then, but I had never reacted like this before. It's like how Tony Stark would always have a panic attack in Iron Man 3 when someone would bring up the battle in New York in The Avengers. Like some kind of war flashback coping mechanism thing."

Reyna pursed her lips like she was trying hard not to smile, "Did you seriously just compare yourself to Iron Man?"

"Reyna, I'm _Leo Valdez_," he said, "Iron Man wishes he can only be as cool as me." He smiled.

Reyna laughed and rolled her eyes at him. Leo's face lit up - he had made her laugh! He felt incredibly accomplished, she had always seemed too strict to ever laugh, but she just did. He decided that he couldn't stop now - screw quitting while you're ahead! He just wanted to make her smile even more.

"You know," he said, "From the way the the fire extinguisher spurted all this white stuff on my bed, it looks like I woke up from an entirely different reason."

Reyna squealed and pushed him away playfully, "You're disgusting!" she said, but she was still laughing. Leo could tell that he must look incredibly goofy with the big smile he was sporting, but he didn't care. They were both laughing hysterically now at how weird this all looked - two Half-Bloods sitting in a charred black bed with white foam everywhere.

As they both caught their breaths there was a moment of awkward silence. Leo felt like he finally shattered some barrier they had between them, and now neither of them knew what to say.

"I get it, you know," she said after a while, "The nightmare stuff. Mine are pretty bad too."

Leo nodded, "I could live with the nightmares if I didn't set shit on fire all the time," he said, "It kinda gets old, you know?"

She gave a soft smile, "Have you tried anything to fix it?"

He shrugged, "I don't really know how to."

"Well..." she said, looking hesitant, "Have you tried, um, sleeping with someone?"

"Wait, what?" he asked, completely taken aback. She couldn't be implying what he thought she was implying, could she? _Okay Leo, just calm down, don't make a fool out of yourself. You'll look so dumb if that's not what she means at all. Godsdammit, now she probably knows you have a giant crush on her!_

"Oh! Not like that, I mean-" she bit her lip nervously and was blushing. He thought she looked absolutely adorable. "I didn't mean like _sleeping together_, I meant like just regular sleeping with someone. Like subconsciously you'll know that there's someone else with you so you won't start fires."

"That's even crazier than what I thought you were implying!" he said, "I'll probably just end up burning them too. I don't want to wake up next to a burnt chicken nugget person! I don't need another thing to feel guilty about."

"No, I think that will work! It has to. Dakota told me that when his little sister kept wetting the bed his mom made her sleep with the dog and she stopped. I feel like it has to help."

"Okay, first thing - what kind of asshole parent makes their kid sleep with the dog? That's horrible, I would call CPS on her ass if I saw that happening," this made Reyna giggle, much to his delight, "Secondly, this isn't bedwetting. I could seriously hurt someone if it happened. Like, it's one thing to wake up swimming in pee and another to be waking up screaming because all of your flesh has been burnt off. And third, I'm not sleeping with a dog, I'm sleeping with a person. And contrary to my rustic, manly exterior, I don't like killing people."

"You won't, trust me. You'll know that you're sleeping with someone and that will stop it. In fact, I'm not leaving this bed until morning, so if you want restful sleep to energize you for work tomorrow, you're going to have to sleep with me," she said, then wiped off some of the excess foam and laid down on his bed.

Usually Leo would jump at the chance to sleep with Reyna, but this was insane. "Are you crazy? You're praetor! How am I going to explain to your campers that I _killed_ the praetor. I'm already hated enough as it is. No, you're leaving." He tried to push her off his bed, but she wouldn't budge.

"We're sleeping together, and that's an order," she said, her stern authoritarian tone of voice finally coming back. She glared at him, the way he was used to being glared at by her, and he knew that he had no chance of convincing her otherwise.

"Fine, it's your funeral," he said, "Let me get another blanket as the other one was _burnt to a crisp_," he desperately tried to get her to change her mind.

"You do that, I'll be here," she said dismissively.

He brought another blanket over and settled himself right next to her, "I'll stay up all night if I have to," he said.

"You can try," she said in that bossy sort of way that Leo couldn't decide if he loved or hated.

They laid together for a bit as they listened the crickets chirping outside. They were both on their backs, with a good inch of space between them. It certainly wasn't like what he had imagined, but there he was. He was in the same bed as Reyna. Granted, they weren't touching or anything, but it was still really weird to think about.

"Hey, Reyna," he said softly. She turned over onto her side, and he did the same. Their faces were very close to each other now, and Leo bit his lip nervously, "Why do you care? Like, you could just throw me out to sleep in the stables if you wanted to. Why are you doing this."

Her stare was intense. That was the thing about Reyna, she didn't feel at all uncomfortable with staring someone down, no matter what the reason. He kinda felt like she was staring into his own soul.

"Because you're a good guy. You can't really catch a break," she shrugged, "You're the only guy to ever really come on to me." Leo couldn't really tell in the dark, but he thought she was blushing.

"Really? That's insane. You're, like, crazy pretty," he blurted out, feeling kind of foolish. Of course she knew she was pretty. What was he even doing saying that to the praetor of New Rome, anyway? Nothing could really happen between them, could it?

"That's really sweet of you to say, Leo," she smiled, "Guys are just intimidated by me, I guess."

"Well, yeah. You're scary as Hades," he said. Her eyes narrowed, and Leo felt a pang of fear in his chest, "I mean, not like that's a bad thing or anything. You run a tight ship, people should be afraid of you. No, that's not what I meant. I'm just trying to say that you're a really good leader. And you are intimidating, but that's not a bad thing. And trust me, just because a girl is intimidating has never stopped me before. It's kind of a weakness of mine."

"I'll take that as a compliment, then," she said. She scooted closer to him, and Leo could swear that she could hear the way his heart was thumping like mad in his chest. He decided to take a risk, what's the worst that could happen? He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Thankfully, she didn't pull away. She rested her head on his chest, her hair tickling at his collarbone. He was certain that she'll be able to hear his heart now, but she didn't comment on it. He thought that was really nice of her.

"I promise I won't fall asleep," he said with a yawn, knowing he wouldn't be able to keep it.

And sure enough, the next thing he knew was that he was waking up next to Reyna in the morning, and she was perfectly intact. There were no more nightmares, no dreams at all. He watched her as her chest rose and fell with each breath and paid close attention to all of the small little details, like the way her eyelashes felt on his bare chest.

He took another chance. He bent down and kissed her on her forehead and her eyes fluttered open. "_Buenos días_, praetor," he said with a smile.


End file.
